


Smá Rob

by FabCreature



Category: LazyTown
Genre: Abuse, Angst, Bullying, Child Abuse, Childhood, Crimes & Criminals, Crying, Gen, Heavy Angst, Swearing, Teen Angst, Underage Smoking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-19
Updated: 2017-07-19
Packaged: 2018-12-04 03:58:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11547030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FabCreature/pseuds/FabCreature
Summary: Robbie's childhood wasn't easy. At least he had his cousin, Glanni, who was there for him.





	Smá Rob

**Author's Note:**

> NOTE! This piece of fanfiction has very heavy angst, some abuse, bullying, etc. I know there are the warnings and tags, but I just wanted to double check.

Glanni stares at the baby in the cradle. He was very excited to travel to the US from Iceland, but he didn’t expect seeing his newborn cousin would be so fascinating. He’s only eight years old, but he can sense a little bit of a connection with this small baby. Glanni makes a funny face at the baby, and he laughs.

 

 

Robert waddles around the living room, laughing, with his cousin chasing him. Surprisingly, Glanni thinks it’s fun playing with his cousin, even though Robert is only four years old.

It’s also surprising that Glanni has learned English better, thanks to his cousin - who is a toddler. Glanni visits his aunt and his cousin in the US every now and then. Apparently Robert’s father is, or was, American, and that’s why they live there. Glanni thinks it’s quite amazing that Robert is growing up speaking two languages. He also think that ‘Lazy Town’ is a funny name for a town.

Little six-year-old Robert follows his older cousin around. Glanni smiles at his confused expression and then asks: “What is it, smá Rob?” Robert stares at Glanni’s fancy, black high heels for a moment, and then asks: “How do you walk with those?” Glanni laughs fondly: “With a lot of practice.” Robert looks at the shoes again, asking: “If I practiced a lot, could I walk of those too?” “Of course you could. Do you want me to help you?” “Yeah!”

Robert steps into his cousins shoes. They’re way too big for him, but he doesn’t care. He’s excited to try and walk like his cousin. Glanni takes Robert’s hands, helping him with balance, and they start walking slowly. “There we go… You’re getting it.” Robert waddles around with the high heels, without Glanni’s support for a moment, but then falls over. “Wow, smá Rob, you did great! You were certainly better than I was when I tried for the first time.” Robert smiles wide: “Really?” “Really”, Glanni responds with a loving smile.

 

 

Robert swings his legs back and forth nervously. He sits outside the principal’s office, waiting for his mother. He’s only eight years old, but gets into trouble a lot for all of the pranks and tricks he does.

Robert flinches as he hears steps coming his way. His mother shows up with her black hair in a bun, and she glares at Robert. She tells him to get up, and she knocks on the principal’s office door.

“Ah, nice to see you again, miss Rotten.” The principal tells them to sit down, and she talks to Robert’s mother. His mother’s Icelandic accent is very thick, and she sounds very angry when she talks. Probably because she is angry. She’s often angry at Robert. She shouts a lot. Robert doesn’t like it.

Robert and his mother walk home, and his mother stays completely silent. “Mamma!” Robert whines after her. “Ég gerði ekki neitt!” (”I didn’t do anything!”) She doesn’t believe it. And yes, it’s right - Robert did do anything. He did everything he was blamed for. Yes, he sneaked into the storage. Yes, he stole nets. Yes, he made a trap out of those. Yes, he trapped a couple of his classmates underneath it. But they deserved it! They kept teasing Robert. They said that he’s weird, and he should go back to his weird, northern island - even though Robert has never been to Iceland.

Once Robert and his mother get home, Robert smiles. He usually doesn’t like being home, but now, his cousin is visiting Lazy Town! He runs into Glanni’s arms, and Glanni pets his black, curly hair. “Haven’t seen you in a long time, smá Rob”, Glanni greets, and they go inside.

They go to Robert’s room, and Glanni sits by the piano. He looks out of the window for a while and then starts playing. Robert stares at how quickly and naturally his hands move on the keyboard. Robert goes to sit next to Glanni and asks: “What song is that?” “It’s Versti Fantur, my own song.” Glanni continues playing, but Robert interrupts once again: “Can I play it?” “Yeah, sure. I can teach you.”

Glanni teaches Robert the beginning of the song. He doesn’t do that good, and it’s very slow, but he’s only starting out.

Their delightful lesson is interrupted by Robert’s mother: “Glanni? Get ég talað við þig?” (”Can I talk to you?”) Glanni sighs. He gets up and smiles sadly at Robert, before he leaves the room and closes the door behind him.

Robert sits on the edge of his bed, silently waiting. It doesn’t take too long before he hears shouting. The door is doing nothing to block the noise out, and every single word strikes Robert’s heart.

Glanni doesn’t get along with Robert’s mother any better than he does with his own parents. In all honesty, Glanni doesn’t get a long with any grown ups - or anyone for that matter. He only gets along with Robert, and Robert is just a kid.

Robert isn’t sure if people don’t like Glanni because he does bad things, or if Glanni does bad things because people don’t like him. Glanni smokes, does a lot of graffiti, and he also steals things every now and then. He doesn’t get caught often, but people still know that he’s a troublemaker. He’s usually very rude to everyone - everyone except Robert. He treats Robert very nicely. Robert thinks it’s quite funny, that Glanni isn’t nice to anyone, except for Robert, and no one is nice to Robert, except for Glanni.

Robert flinches when he hears Glanni scream. His mother rants on, while Glanni tries to interrupt her by just shouting even louder. Robert fiddles with the sleeves of his shirt and translates the conversation in his head:  
“You’re nothing but a bad influence! Robert keeps getting in trouble at school, and it’s all because of you!” “Well, why do you suddenly care? You never care about Rob anyway!” “Yes, I do!” “No, you don’t! I know you don’t! You don’t care about the drawings he tries to show you! You don’t care about the little inventions he makes! You don’t care about his hopes and dreams! You don’t even know them, because you never listen! Well, here we go; he wants to be a designer when he grows up! He wants to learn different instruments! And oh, don’t get me started on how fucking much he wants to make you proud! But you don’t care, do you?” “Listen here, young man; he’s my child, and I make the decisions in raising him!” “Well, maybe you shouldn’t!”

Robert starts shaking as he listens. There are tears in his eyes, but he uses all the strength he has in him, so he won’t start crying and he’ll stay quiet. He tries to ignore the shouting and screaming, but it won’t work. He listens to it with a hollow feeling, just hoping it would end soon.

Finally Robert hears Glanni scream: “Fjandinn hirði þig!” The front door slams shut, and Robert runs over to the window of his room, to see Glanni wearing his leather jacket, walking away fast.

Robert waits for a moment. He then carefully opens the door of his room, and sneaks through the hallway. He takes his own bright purple jacket, and leaves the house, closing the door as quietly as he can.

Robert doesn’t have to wonder where to go. He knows Glanni likes hanging out on the outskirts of the town, by a big billboard. It’s warm, but the sky is grey, as Robert walks over to the billboard and finds his cousin there.

Glanni doesn’t even notice Robert walking up to him, as Glanni takes a drag of his cigarette and stares into the distance. “Glanni…” He flinches as he hears Robert’s voice, and then notices him sitting down next to him. “Hey, smá Rob”, he responds simply. Glanni starts being very careful, blowing the smoke of the cigarette away from Robert.

Both of the cousins stay quiet for a while. Robert notices Glanni coughing a lot - mister Meanswell says it’s because of his smoking. Robert looks up at Glanni, and he looks kind of sad. “Are you okay?” Robert asks. Glanni opens his mouth to answer, but nothing but smoke comes out. He stares into nothingness, and Robert can see a sort of glistening in his eyes. Not the kind of happy, beautiful glistening that glitters. It’s more of a sad glistening that makes everything blurry and confusing.

“Já, I’m fine”, Glanni finally mutters. Robert stares at him for a while longer and then shift a little closer to him, and leans on Glanni. He’s confused at first, but Glanni then throws away his cigarette, and hugs Robert tight.

 

 

Robert is 12 years old when he gets interested in makeup. He walks up to his cousin, who is once again visiting Lazy Town. “What’s up, smá Rob?” “Can you teach me how to do my makeup?” Glanni smiles at Robert. “Of course.”

Glanni helps Robert with not just makeup techniques, but also with what products to buy. They sit on the floor of Robert’s room, doing their makeup together and laugh. Glanni is genuinely enjoying this time with his cousin, but Robert notices how he’s shaking the whole time, and he seems tense. Right after they’re done, Glanni quickly goes outside for a smoke. He’s been trying to quit - for Robert. He’s been trying so hard, but he isn’t strong enough.

The next day, Robert realizes why the makeup was a bad idea. “Hey, fairy!” A couple of guys walk up to him threateningly. Robert knows this won’t end well. These are the same guys who are incredibly good at sports, and laugh at Robert’s lack of skill, strength, and speed. He’s no match against them.

“Where do you think you’re going, little fairy?” Robert stays quiet, and avoids eye contact. He tries to push his hair to cover his face, but it won’t work, and the bullies grab him by the hair, even though it’s not even that long. “I asked you a question, fag!” the tallest one shouts, spitting on Robert’s face.

“Just let me go…” Robert mutters quietly. “What did you say?” “Yeah, we couldn’t hear you over the sound of how gay you are!” Robert wants to just cry and disappear, but he knows crying is the last thing he should do right now - he knows from experience.

“Guys, what should we do this time?” You should let me go this time, Robert thinks to himself, but he won’t say it out loud. He thinks of how this situation could go, if he was stronger, if he was faster. He could escape. Or what if he wasn’t weird, and didn’t get their attention. Life would be so much easier, if he wasn’t half Icelandic. If he wasn’t so feminine. If he wasn’t so weird. If he was ‘normal’.

He’s woken up out of his thoughts with a kick, making him fall over, hitting the hard ground. He doesn’t have time to get himself back together, for he gets another kick to his side, and then one to his head. And another kick. And another. And another. And another… He cries, trying to stay as quiet as he can.

 

 

“What if I am gay?” Robert asks, not really expecting an answer. All he expects Glanni to answer is something like “It’s normal to think about that, you’re 14 after all, you’ll go back to normal soon”, but instead Glanni throws away his cigarette - meaning he’s serious - and asks: “What about that?” “W-well, I just… I don’t know…”

Glanni keeps staring at Robert expectantly. “Well… I was just wondering what would happen. W-what… what would you do?” “I’d love and support you. It’s quite obvious isn’t it?” Robert shrugs and stares at the ground.

“Seriously, smá Rob, you don’t have to worry. I know what it’s like. I’ve been through that, I know the struggle.” Robert’s eyes widen, and he turns over to Glanni. “You mean… You’re…?” Glanni simply nods. “Did you tell your parents?” “Yup.” “And did it go well?” “Nope, not at all”, Glanni answers without hesitation. “It was pretty tough, because I was probably like 17 at the time, but luckily I could come and live here every now and then.” Robert furrows his eyebrows: “But what did you do when you weren’t here?” “Lived on the streets until I was 19 and got my own apartment.” “Oh”, Robert responds. He had no idea Glanni had it that hard.

“Well, what will I do if it doesn’t go well for me either?” Robert sighs. Glanni smiles and shifts closer to Robert: “Hey, smá Rob. You can always come and live with me in Iceland.” Robert smiles at that. He likes the idea. He likes it very much.

Glanni lights up a new cigarette and chuckles: “I guess we’re both ‘the gay cousin’.”

 

 

Robert hasn’t been doing good in school in a long time. He never concentrates. His grades have gone down. He’s been getting into trouble. The teachers gave him one more chance. They gave him that ‘one more chance’ several times. But it didn’t work. So he’s been kicked out.

That’s why his mother is shouting at him. She says Robert is 16 already - he should be a lot more mature. She talks about how ‘she didn’t raise Robert this way’. She keeps on shouting, and Robert just wants to get out of here. He starts wishing he was never born.

Robert is brought back to reality, when he feels a burning pain strike his left cheek. He quickly turns to look at his mother, and he holds his cheek that now has a big red mark and an awful, tingling pain. His mother is looking down at him, but now silent. She still looks angry. She still looks powerful. She looks like she’s ready to do it again.

Robert’s eyes get filled with tears, and he stumbles backwards. He stares at his mother, and she stares at him, with no mercy in her eyes. He says nothing, as he runs out of the door, finally letting his tears fall.

Robert runs as fast as he can, running straight over to the big billboard, where Glanni is. He scares Glanni, as he runs over to him, and falls to the ground onto his knees. Glanni crouches down next to him straight away, with a concerned expression.

Robert lets tears fall, and he sobs helplessly. For the first time ever, he cries, and he isn’t trying to stay quiet. He has had enough of trying to stay quiet.

“Smá Rob, what is it? Please tell me!” Robert rocks back and forth, sobbing and screaming. His words crumble as he speaks, and he can barely make any sense of his speech himself: “I-I’ve had enough o-of it, I’ve h-had enough! I d-don’t w-want to do this a-anymore, I-I don’t! I h-hate it! I hate t-this fucking town, I-I h-hate it so f-fucking much! I don’t w-want to do this a-anymore, I-I don’t w-want to do t-this!”

Glanni lifts Robert’s chin up, and pushes his hair away from his face, to see the big red mark on Robert’s cheek. Glanni stares at it in shock, trying his best not to cry as well. Glanni takes Robert into his arms, and Robert cries into his shirt. He cries and sobs. He cries so much his eyes and throat hurt, and he can barely breathe.

“I-I can’t take t-this a-anymore! I’ve h-had enough, I c-can’t take i-it!” Robert continues crying, while Glanni holds him and pets his hair. “I’m so sorry, smá Rob. I’m so sorry.” He tries to wipe away Robert’s tears, and he looks him in the eyes. He has a very hard time trying not to cry, while he looks at Robert and his sad, tired eyes. He’s been through a lot. He’s only a boy, and he’s been through too much.

“I’m so sorry. I’ll get you out of here. I promise, I’ll get you out of here. I-it’ll be a lot of work… but I’ll do it, no matter what. Next time I come to visit, we’ll leave this place - both of us. I-I’ll take you with me, and you can be happy and free.”

Robert sobs, as Glanni keeps on talking, promising a better future. A future, where he won’t have to be hurt anymore. Once Glanni takes Robert to live with him in Iceland, no one can hurt him. Not the bullies. Not his mother. He can finally be happy.

 

 

Robert keeps waiting in his room. He plays the piano, playing the first song that Glanni ever taught him. He made English lyrics to it himself - he calls it ‘Master of Disguise’.

Robert looks out of the window, but Glanni still hasn’t arrived. Robert remembers what Glanni told him last time he was in Lazy Town: “I have a brilliant plan - not the best plan, but a brilliant one. It’ll take a lot of work, and its morals are… questionable… but it’s for a good cause. Once I have succeeded with my plan, I’ll come back here. Then I’ll have the money to get you plane tickets as well. I’ll get you out of here. I promise.”

Robert will get out of here. He’ll get out of this town he likes to call hell. He’ll get away from all the awful people. He’ll get away from his mother. She can’t hurt him anymore. He’ll get out of here.

Robert waits, and waits, but Glanni doesn’t show up. Robert gets out of his room, and sees his mother sitting by the kitchen table. He walks over to her, and carefully asks: “Móðir? Hvar er Glanni?” (”Mother? Where’s Glanni?”) She doesn’t say anything. She sighs and gives Robert the newspaper from Iceland. “Glæpamaður Glanni Glæpur loksins náð”. (“Criminal Glanni Glæpur finally caught”)

Robert reads the article, skimming through it quickly. His heart skips a beat. He can feel tears coming. Robert puts the paper down, and stops for a moment. Poisoned an entire town. Stole the president’s car. Posed as someone else. Fooled people. Fooled the police force. Framed children for crimes. Locking children in, forcing them to work.

It’ll take years, maybe a decade - Robert doesn’t know - before Glanni will get out of jail. Robert holds in a sob - he can’t cry in front of his mother. He walks to the front door and grabs the leather jacket Glanni wore when he was Robert’s age. It might just be his imagination, but Robert thinks it still smells like the toxic smoke Glanni used to breathe.

Robert walks out of the door with a blank expression. He takes a deep breath and starts running. He doesn’t know why, he doesn’t know where. Tears prickle his eyes, he squeezes his hands into fists, and he continues running. He feels the tears run down his cheeks, and he lets out a small cry, but he continues running.

Robert finds himself running to the big billboard. He stares at the place, remembering everything they did together. Everything Glanni promised. He promised.

Robert lets out a scream and punches the billboard. It hurts his hands so bad, but he continues punching it, and kicking the small pebbles on the ground. “No!” he screams to the skies, as he kicks the ground once again. “No! No! No, no, no, no, no…” Robert cries his eyes out, and screams all his heart has.

“We were so close!” he cries. They were so close. So close to living happily. So close to getting Robert out of here. So close to ending all the pain.

Robert cries and sobs and screams. He screams in pain, in anger, in sorrow, in loss. He kicks the ground and punches the billboard. He punches it until his knuckles bleed. He cries, and the tears continue falling. Robert collapses onto the ground, crying. He puts his arms around himself and continues sobbing. Glanni isn’t there to stop the tears. Glanni isn’t there to pick him up. Glanni isn’t there to hold him. Glanni isn’t there to end the pain.

Robert realizes that he might never again hear Glanni call him “smá Rob”.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this ages ago, and now it feels kind of weird. I'm thinking "why did I write this?", but I am proud of the writing, even though I'm now later questioning the story I made for this. Oh well. Thanks for reading this!


End file.
